Southern Christian Leadership Conference

The Southen Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization that was founded on 10 January 1957 by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. The SCLC was founded at a meeting of 60 black ministers at Ebenezer Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and it was governed by an elected board that would lead the fight against segregation. The SCLC was challenged by local police forces, white nationalists, and the Ku Klux Klan, and only a few black churches were able to align with the SCLC; many blacks disagreed with the group, favoring legal action instead of boycotts and protests. The SCLC organized the Birmingham campaign, the March on Washington, and the Selma to Montgomery marches, pushing for civil rights legislation. After King's assassination in 1968, Ralph Abernathy took over the SCLC, presiding over the organization until 1977. The organization declined under Martin Luther King III's leadership from 1997 to 2004, and it was inactive over the AIDS crisis and ongoing racial tensions. The organization currently has 17 affiliates and 57 chapters, and it continues to advocate for civil rights.